Posts Tagged ‘Twitter’

In case you haven’t realised yet, my sister Kim has made a supercool music video for Moby’s single Wait For Me, and it’s going to be on TV and all over the interweb and she’s going to be famous and stuff. Well, maybe. To convert that maybe into a definitely, we need your help.

Please check out her video by clicking on this link and do vote if you like it. No silly registration hassle – you just need to enter your email address, and then click on email validation delivered directly to your inbox. And if you really like it lots and lots, please tell all your friends about it too. Deadline for voting is on Monday April 12, so get clicking!

If you have any further questions, check out the FAQs below. And thanks for your support!

FAQs

Q: Is this spam, cunningly disguised as a blog post?
A: No, spam is a revolting mystery meat; Clea is not a piece of meat, she is my sister.

Q: If Clea’s video is allegedly so cool, why doesn’t she have the most votes yet?
A: The competition opened in late February, but Clea only posted her video at the end of March. We’re playing catch-up.

Q: Why should I vote for Clea? Can’t I decide for myself and vote for someone else?
A: I am Clea’s PR, not the Genero.tv website PR, which is why I’ve posted a link directly to her video. But you’re welcome to check out all the other entries and vote for your favourite. In fact, you’re allowed to vote for more than one video if you can’t decide between them.

Q: Why are you posting this on your blog that nobody ever reads? Have you never heard of social networking?
A: We’re just trying to cover all bases. If you’re interested, you can find us on Facebook or follow Kim on Twitter.

Q: Why are you posting this on your blog, again, when your previous two postings have been on the exact same topic.
A: Sorry, I wasn’t sure you were paying attention.

Q: Why is Kim not famous already?
A: We’re working on it; your vote will help.

Q: I clicked on the link, and voted for Kim’s video, and told all my friends, just like you said. I LOVE her video, and would like her to make a music video for my band. How do I get in touch?
A: Submit a comment and leave your details. Kim and her management will respond promptly.

The brilliant and whimsical Kim has submitted a music video for the Moby song Wait for Me. Not quite sure how to embed it on this post as, embarrassingly enough, I’m actually quite the blogging Luddite (if I’m permitted an oxymoron). But you can read Kim’s description below as an appetiser.

This is the story of a homeless pencil – who desires a diamond – and its journey through a “day” which is symbolic of its troubles. The pencil hopes the diamond will be patient and still be there after it cleans up its act. What sex or race is the pencil? Well I wanted it to be non-specific although it did end up leaning in a certain direction… you can decide for yourself. I’ve recently engaged with a couple of homeless people and that was partly an inspiration for this video – they seem to exist in a different time frame while the world goes by relentlessly. The song’s music and lyrics conjured up the story you see. It’s a dark tune but has moments of hope in it. I feel that we are somewhat – I say only somewhat – desensitised to images of people in the media, and in real life, who are in trouble, suffering or lost in some way. I wanted to explore a way that would encourage people to think and react to such people perhaps from a new perspective. Graphite and diamond are both made of the same thing – carbon – so at the end of the day the pencil is an equal to the diamond.

If your interest is piqued, click here to check out the video. I mean, you don’t *have* to vote for Kim; I’m pretty certain Moby’s gonna pick her video. But I voted for her, just in case he has a stupid day.

If you are inspired to vote, it’s not difficult; once you’ve clicked on Kim’s video on the Genero.tv website you don’t need to sign up or anything, just enter your email address. And if you’d like to spread the word, you can invite your friends to check out her video via the Facebook event page. Or follow Kim on Twitter on @homelesspencil.

Here’s what a couple of people who’ve already voted for her had to say:

“Really liked the vid and was thus able to vote with clear conscience. G’luck”

* Google Wave. I don’t exactly see the point of it, yet. But it’s cool to be a Waver, even if I’m still waiting for more of my friends and contacts to join. Perhaps 2010 will reveal what the big deal is.

* @FakeAPStylebook, which brings a smile to the face of even the most strident Grammar Nazi. My favourite is their tweet on guerrillas vs gorillas: “Guerrilla soldiers use unorthodox tactics. Gorilla soldiers are awesome.”

* The Daily Maverick. Far and away South Africa’s best news and analysis website. It’s so good that words elude me. Click through and read it yourself because “being uninformed is so last season”.

Well, you know when you´re sitting around having one of the late night drunken conversations, and you come up with an amazing idea for a blog, and it´s going to be the biggest thing to hit the interweb since Vernon Koekemoer, and you wake up the next morning and you´ve forgotten your idea or, more likely, you remember it and realise it´s kak or, even if it still seems supercool, you can´t be arsed to actually do it?

That happens to me all the time as well. But after we discovered the definitive cure for male pattern baldness while larking around in the Golden Sands laboratory last night, I realised it would be cruel not to share our knowledge with the rest of the world. Visit Not a baldy to find out more about our miracle solution!

Also, finally, I may just have hit on a concept that will bring me fame and fortune in the blogosphere. I mean, no one who isn´t my friend is ever really going to care about Trinny in Dubai. I still have high hopes for Mahendra´s ties, but until someone buys RK a television, or I move back home, it´s not gonna happen.

To make Not a baldy work, I´m gonna need your help. It´s all about sharing the hair, spreading the love, and getting the word out. First of all, check out the blog. Once you´ve composed yourself and got up off the floor after rolling around laughing, you can then become a Facebook fan and follow us on Twitter. Most of all, I need you to send visual evidence of your hair-sharing shenanigans to notabaldy@gmail.com. And get your friends to do the same. We´re gonna go viral, and you read it here first.

Twitter has, consciously or not, been on my mind an awful lot over the past couple of days. Perhaps it´s because I´ve fallen for the #moonfruit promotion. Or because it´s the only social networking platform available at work. Whatever the cause, I ended up dreaming about @stephenfry last night, even though I hadn´t been following him. (Well, until this morning, when I realised I might as well. As well*.)

Anyway, in the face of several confirmed Twitter heathens, I decided to try to explain why I´m well on my way to becoming a Twitter addict. There´s not much too it, really, but there are two fellow tweeters who, more often than not, make my day. The first is @DrSamuelJohnson, who tweets about current affairs in the style of his namesake. He (?) regularly makes me laugh out loud, although you might not realise this, even if you´re sitting next to me, as I have perfected the art of laughing out loud, silently, inside my head.

The second is @BOOKSA, which keeps me up to date with the publications, musings and general banter of the South African literati. As well as their own contributions, @BOOKSA are adroit retweeters, which brings me to David Foster Wallace, and how an @BOOKSA retweet of an @KevBloom tweet, has led me to embark on the pleasures of an Infinite Summer.

“I know it´s hot in Dubai, but surely the heat isn´t infinite?” you may ask. You don´t know what I´m talking about, do you? I´ll admit I´m being obfuscatory, but then again, elucidation is merely a click away. Alternatively, you could wait until my next post…

* You can take the girl out of South Africa, but you can´t… blah, blah, blah, you know the rest.

I am hot. Properly hot. Also, I am sick and tired of status updates and tweets by Brits complaining of the “heat”. So, upon reading the following yesterday, it was reassuring to discover that not everyone living in the UK has become a mentalist:

Hats off to Carla who, quite sensibly, elects to keep her cardigan on. And well she might.

The following comparison between London and Dubai temperatures over the last month was sourced via Wolfram Alpha.

“Not fair!” I hear the overheated British masses cry. “It´s been much hotter than 28°C here.” I´m not disputing that the data might be slightly on the conservative side, but this goes for the Dubai temperatures too. I´ll match your 32°C and raise you a 49°C.

Furthermore, I´d like to point out that the average, I repeat, average, temperature in Dubai over the past month has been hotter than the maximum level reached in London.

Personally, I think there´s been far too much whinging about the alleged UK “heatwave”. Enough already. Relish the mild sunlight that is currently shining down on you, and leave bitching about the heat to people who know what 40°C plus feels like. If I hear any more griping, I´m going to instruct my strongmen to track you down and klap you one, before confining you to a sauna for 48 hours. That is all.